February-March -> neutering/spaying months

Medical Reasons For Neutering or Spaying Your Pet
NEUTERING

• Traditionally neutering is done around six months of age, because that is the age of puberty in dogs.
• Contrary to popular belief, castration of a male dog does not “break his spirit”… worldwide, it is probably the most common routine surgery done in animal hospitals.
• Neutering does not promote any undesirable physical or emotional impact on the dog.
• Neutering operations remove the source of testosterone, which leads to problematic, and often life-threatening health issues, as wells as undesired behavioral problems.

Testosterone is a very powerful anabolic steroid with many short and long-term effects. Here is a list of some of the medical conditions influenced by the presence of Testosterone.

• Prostate effects:

- Benign Prostatic hypertrophy – a gross enlargement of the prostate gland, as occurs in human men. In the dog this enlargement does not cause difficulty in urination but may create serious constipation.

- Primary Prostatic Carcinoma – a highly metastatic form of cancer, which is usually fatal.

- Generalized Noninfectious Prostatitis – an acute inflammation of the prostate, which causes pain on urination and is usually accompanied by hematuria, blood in the urine.

- Prostatic Abscess – either single or multiple micro abscesses, this is an infection of the gland caused by bacteria. The gland is more susceptible to infection when under the influence of testosterone.

• Hernias – There are a number of hernias caused by Testosterone.

• Cancer – numerous cancers have been directly associated with testosterone.

• Infections – Brucellosis is the worst, it has only slight chronic signs in the dog but causes abortion in the bitch. Balanoposthitis a chronic infection of the prepuce and penis, inside the sheath, this is the dog that is dripping droplets of pus from the opening of the prepuce (or sheath).

Most of the above conditions are preventable by neutering your dog. Every man who owns a dog should read this and consider if he wants to put his dog through this. It has been proven that neutered dogs live longer, healthier, and happier lives. We should not anthropomorphize.

SPAYING

• Spaying, or ovariohysterectomy, is the surgical removal of the animal’s ovaries and uterus.
• By preventing pregnancy, spaying permanently eliminates a source of great physical stress for female animals, including complications such a ceasarian section delivery of the puppies or kittens.
• What’s more, spaying female pets eliminates:

- Attendant males in abundance while the female is in heat

- Spotting during the heat period

- False pregnancies (increasingly common with age)

- Mammary tumors (less than 1% incidence in animals spayed before their first heat, versus higher than 50% incidence in intact female dogs over 5 years of age)

- Uterine infections (increasingly common with age; often life-threatening)

- Tumors of the ovaries or uterus

- Stress, leading to increased susceptibility to disease

In female dogs, heat periods occur twice a year and last about 3 weeks each time. Female cats may come into heat every 2-3 weeks. During heat both dogs and cats will be more irritable and nervous than usual, and may even become aggressive and damage furniture or attack strangers. Female cats will howl and rub excessively.

Contrary to popular belief, there are no medical, emotional or sociological reasons for a male dog to sire, or female birth “just one litter”. A misinformation and/or misguidance may lead one to believe that “having just one litter” is somehow good for the dog psychologically or medically. And the emotional or educational benefit to your children to experience the birth, and care taking of a litter of pups should be a very carefully analyzed proposition. Will your children accompany you to the animal shelter when you drop off those last six puppies you “just weren’t able to find homes for”? If you do choose to allow your dog or cat to have a litter, please be certain that there are committed pet caretakers waiting and wanting to provide a home for them. Don’t contribute to the pathetic destruction of tens of thousands of animals euthanized yearly in pounds and shelters.

You do have the power and intelligence to make a difference!!!!

Good reasons to spay/neuter your pet

• Spayed and neutered pets are less likely to run away from home. (minimize roaming) - Fact:Males neutered early in life are less aggressive toward other males and are not distracted by females in heat. Therefore, a neutered male will be less tempted to leave your property and cross that dangerous highway searching for a mate. - Neutered males are also less likely to mark every one of your (or your neighbor’s) expensive shrubs with his urine as well as inside the house. - Decreased roaming- Especially common in males, roaming tendencies expose dogs to many possibilities of trauma and disease that they would not normally be exposed to such as dog fights, automobile trauma, and contagious diseases such as Canine Parvo Virus which is ubiquitous in the environment.

• Spayed and neutered pets are less likely to fight with other animals, - thus saving themselves much pain and their owners a high veterinary bill. (minimize aggressive behaviors) Decreased aggression- Intergender aggression is common in dogs- especially among males. Wounds caused by dogfights can easily be as severe as those caused by automobiles.

• Spayed and neutered pets are less distracted by sexual instincts and become easier to train. - Easier domestication- Dogs that are neutered early in life are more easily trained than their intact counterparts. - They are not as easily distracted during training and males tend to not be bothered as much when there is a female dog in heat in the area.

• Spayed and neutered dogs are usually more reliable “watch dogs” and more responsive to family members - because they are less distracted by sexual instincts. - The truth is that male dogs are usually better pets if they are neutered. They have less desire to roam, to mark territory (including furniture), or to exert dominance over family members. - Another plus is that they won’t be inclined to ’scent-mark’ their territory (in other words, lift a leg) in forbidden areas, or be inclined to sexually molest people’s legs, furniture, other pets, etc.

• Neutered male pets are less likely to suffer infections or disorders in the prepuce or prostate glands. - These problems are uncommonly found in males neutered early in life. Testicular disease- Tumors such as Sertoli cell tumors and Seminomas are found in the testicles more commonly in dogs that are older. Also diseases such as testicular abscesses would be not be possible in a neutered dog.

• They are also healthier pets: no testicles means, no testicular cancer, which is not uncommon among aging intact male dogs.

Humanitarian reasons for the operations

• The prime one being that your pet will not accidentally add to the overpopulation problem that results in so many helpless, unwanted dogs being put to death in animal shelters each year.
• These numbers are in the millions. It is your responsibility to be sure that you don’t allow your dog to contribute to the problem, through some notion, about preserving your dog’s sexual rights.

• While many pet owners feel that it is nice to let the pet have one litter and for the family to witness such an event, they neglect to think about what is going to happen with puppies arrive. One walk through a local animal shelter will serve ample notice that more puppies are not in short supply on the planet. Pet overpopulation is a problem that has reached epic proportions.

The Numbers Are Staggering!

• In 6 years, one female dog and its offspring can be the source of 67,000 puppies.
• In 7 years, one female cat and its young can produce 420,000 kittens.

Almost 8,000,000 dogs and cats are euthanized each year because there are no homes for them

Common Excuses for Not Spaying or Neutering Pets

• My pet will get fat and lazy. - Neutering or spaying may diminish your pet’s overall activity level, natural tendency to wander, and hormonal balances, which may influence appetite. Pets that become fat and lazy after being altered usually are overfed and do not get enough exercise. There are special diets for neutered animals.

• We want another pet just like Rover and Fluffy. - Breeding two purebred animals rarely results in offspring that are exactly like one of the parents. With mixed breeds, it is virtually impossible to have offspring that are exactly like one of the parents.

• My pet’s personality will change. - Many changes will be for the better. After being altered, your pet will be less aggressive toward other dogs or cats, have a better personality, and will be less likely to wander. Spraying (urine marking), often done by dogs and cats to mark their territory, diminishes or ceases after pets are altered. I’ve never heard of an animal that changed for the worse.

• We can sell puppies or kittens and make money. - Even well known breeders are fortunate if they break even on raising purebred litters. The cost of raising such a litter — which includes stud fees, vaccinations and other health care costs, and feeding a quality food — consumes most of the “profit.” Well-known breeders raise breeds that they like. These breeders also try to improve the standard of the breeds they raise.

If you have any questions … :)))